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Thanks to one of you who alerted us about the promotion of our kailiyans who are serving in the military:

Then Major General Nelson Allaga was promoted to Lieutenant General. According to the Inquirer, with this promotion Lt. Gen. Allaga now joins “other three-star generals as contenders to replace the Chief of Staff, General Hermogenes Esperon Jr.”

We first blogged about General Allaga here when he saved Gloria’s ass from those “disobedient” marines.

Anyways, aside from his talents in effectively spanking insubordinate subordinates and arresting suspected Abu Sayyaf members, General Allaga seems to have an additional talent in conducting lectures (or should we say “pen pointing”) as you can see in the pictures below:

Maybe he can become a professor when he retires? After all don’t military men retire when they’re still in their 50s?

The other kailiyan who was promoted recently is Brig. General Rommel Gomez who was promoted from Colonel. We can’t find any pictures of the new General but here’s two recent reports about him:

On the alleged torture of Aeta villagers in Zambales:

Inquirer report: In a phone interview on Friday, Col. Rommel Gomez, chief of the 703rd Infantry Brigade, which has command over the two battalions, urged those helping the Aeta to file the cases in court and have the erring soldiers summoned.“I will not tolerate these kinds of behaviors from our soldiers,” Gomez told the Inquirer.

On peace and order in Pampanga where the general is assigned:

Philippine Star: It quoted Gomez as urging the council “to take into consideration the possibility of working on a system, rather than a plan, and strategies on how to address social issues that breed criminality.”

Hah! That sounds like an academese language (or “professor speak”) if you ask me. Maybe General Gomez can join his superior General Allaga in becoming a professor when he retires, no?

Note: Everything is quiet in the rebel front so far. Come on, Ka Filiw, are you going to lose the public relations battle by default? Kailan may ma-propromote na iCordillera sa pinaka-inner circle ng NPA/CPP/NDF?

Related Posts:
Soldiers, Rebels, Rebel-Soldiers

Info source: Inquirer. Photo credits: Reuters and AP.

Thanks to the The Jester and Layad for the heads up on this touching article about the lives of military men.

First published in the Youngblood section of the Inquirer, this article was written by 1 Lt. Manuel Kalang-ad Jr, a kailiyan who graduated from the Philippine Military Academy last 2004. Lt. Kalang-ad is now serving as a company commander with the Philippine Army. It’s not often that we read an article written by a military man so let’s consider this a treat.

Men of Arms
by Manuel Kalang-ad Jr.

When I was a child, my grandfather cautioned me not to eat the head whenever we had chicken for dinner. He said that if you ate chicken’s head, during war or battle, your head would keep popping up, no matter how much you try to hide it, and it would become an easy target for the enemy. I didn’t pay much attention to this superstition of my grandpa. After all, for all the truth it might hold, I didn’t plan on becoming a soldier, whose job is to go to war.

I went through elementary and high school having much the same safe and idealistic dreams as any youngster my age. At first, I wanted to be an architect, then a lawyer. The two professions had one thing in common: You get to live the normal life of a civilian and don’t have to concern yourself with things like going out in the dead of the night because it is your duty to do so.

Never did it enter my mind to consider a career in the military. I had this image that the life of a soldier was a hard one, not much different from a farmer’s who must endure the rain, the heat of the sun, and the cold of night out in the field. I went through my formative years dreaming of someday becoming a big shot with lots of money and power.
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